The Quarter Quell: New Allies and Old Fears
by OwlsAndCupcakes13
Summary: Katniss and Peeta enter the Quarter Quell, and find themselves with new allies, Amber, and Finnick. Together, they have a plan to do what victors do best, win. But are Peeta, Katniss, and Amber ready to face the Arena so soon after escaping?
1. Introduction

Hi! I'm new to Fanfiction, so bear with me. This is my introduction to my story, The Quarter Quell: New Allies and Old Fears. This story starts right in the Arena, not before the Games. I wrote this down on a whim! I made up the character Amber, so I only wrote a bio for her. Hopefully you guys know about Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick already!

SUMMARY:

Katniss and Peeta enter the Quarter Quell, and find themselves with new allies, Amber (the victor of the 73rd Hunger Games), and Finnick. Together, they have a plan to do what victors do best, win. But are Peeta, Katniss, and Amber ready to face the Arena so soon after escaping?

MAIN CHARACTERS:

**Amber**- Sweet, kind, and smart, this victor won the 73rd Annual Hunger Games at age 14, without killing a single person. With medium length straight blonde hair and gray-green-blueish eyes, she is striking in an unforgettable way, reminding Katniss of Glimmer, last years female tribute from District 1. Amber is from District 11, and is one of the only young victors from there, earning her a spot in the Quarter Quell. She excels with a knife, though rarely uses one. Her main strength is running, which she can do fast, and for a long time, which is what ends up landing her a spot as an alliance with Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick. Amber knows how to treat wounds, and knows a few select types of healing plants.

**Katniss**

**Peeta**

**Finnick **

First chapter should be up soon! REVIEW when it goes up, please? :) Thanks!

~OwlsAndCupcakes13


	2. Chapter 1

I awoke the next morning to bright sun in my eyes. Had I slept through the night? I sit up, rubbing my eyes. I see Finnick up, he looks to be rationing out food and water. Good. Amber must've woken up him and gotten some sleep. I glance over to her spot on the ground, and see her laying on her side, facing me, blonde wispy hairs have fallen out of her messy braid that falls down her back, just past her neck. Her mouth is slightly open, and I can barely hear her soft breath. "Morning Katniss," Finnick says giving me a nod. I nod back. Sitting up sleepily. He pauses going back to going through our packs we grabbed from the Cornucopia, when he glances up at me with his piercing sea-green eyes. "You know she stayed up all night? Amber did?"

"What?" I ask sleepily.

"Yeah. She wanted us to get some sleep, so she sat up all night on watch. I woke up this morning and saw her, then told her to go to sleep." He shakes his head disapprovingly, like a loving mother would do to her young child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Wow," Is all I can manage to say. I pull my knees up to my chest. "She's such a nice person."

"Yeah." Finnick quickly agrees. Peeta groans loudly, and on instinct I glance around the forest, just in case someone heard. After a quick scan, I come to the conclusion that we're alone. Turning back to Peeta, I see him pushing himself from the forest floor, rubbing his neck. Sunlight streams through the spots in the trees, creating almost a spotlight on him. He looks up, and meets my gaze. He grins.

"Hey guys." He says softly enough, if Amber wasn't laying right behind him.

"Shh!" Finnick and I exclaim together. A look of confusion crosses Peeta's face, and we all break into quiet laughter. For a moment, I sit there laughing with Peeta and Finnick, and it almost feels like we're not in the Games. But we are.

"Amber's sleeping." I explain to Peeta. He nods.

"So what's the plan for today then?" He asks. He picks up a leaf from the floor, and tears it up carelessly. I glance to Finnick for his ideas.

He frowns, clearly not enjoying the fact that we've put all attention and leadership on him. "I don't know. We need water though. Maybe go hunting, then find another place to sleep and stay." I exchanged looks with Peeta who smiles at me, giving his approval.

"Yeah, sure." I hear leaves rustle, and immediately grab my bow from next to me. I look straight to where the noise came from, and see Amber pushing herself up off the ground. I lower my bow, realizing it's just her. She sits up fully.

"Good morning, Amber." Peeta says. She smiles cheerfully, even though she just woke up. God, if she's a morning person, that's gonna ruin any chance we have of being friends.

"Morning!" She runs a hand through her messy sort-of braided hair, making more strands fall out. She tucks them behind her ear carelessly. I glance over at Finnick, and notice him staring at her, mouth open. Suddenly, he stands up, dusting off his dark gray cargo pants of any stray leaves.

"I'm gonna go scope out things. I'll be right back."

Amber frowns unhappily. "Finnick, are you sure it's safe to go out alone?"

"I'll be fine. I've got my trident." He insists. She shrugs, and glances over to me mouthing, _Show off. _She gives up though, knowing she'll get nowhere in this argument. I stifle a giggle. She might like him, and he might like her, but she sure isn't going down that easy. She's a victor. We tend to do it the hard way. Finnick doesn't notice our exchange, or if he does, pretends not to, and walks through two trees, away from camp, trident in hand.

I turn to Peeta, then to Amber. "Okay, how much you guys wanna bet that he has a crush on you?" I stare right at Amber as I say "you" making her blush. Talking about crushes seems so childlike, but I can't help it.

"100 bucks?" Peeta asks, laughing. Amber blushes even more.

"110!"

"130."

"_150._" I say, causing a groan from Amber.

"_200._" Peeta says slowly, making sure both of us hear it clearly.

"Peeta!" Amber exclaims. She goes in to elbow him, but he dodges her playful attempt easily.

"Ugh!" I groan. "Fine, you win."

Suddenly, there's a soft crunching of leaves. It sounds like footsteps. The three of us are silent for a moment. The footsteps continue to get closer, and closer to camp. Peeta is still as a statue, and Amber is glancing around the forest trying to find where the noise is coming from.

"Finnick?" She asks nervously. A shadowed figure jumps gracefully through the small gap between two trees, and I instantly know it's not him. The figure comes out from the trees, smiling menacingly at us. My heart thuds loudly in my chest. The woman is a Career, Enobaria, I think is her name. Her silky black hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, with no fly aways. Her green cargo pants aren't ripped, and she has her jacket zipped all the way up. She's pale, with glowing white skin and fair red lips, she reminds me of Snow White. I wonder why she's away from the other Careers. I lift my bow, prepared to shoot, when Enobaria, throws a knife at me. I don't even see it at first, because with a quick flick of her wrist, it's coming straight towards me. It's like everything slows down, to slow motion, and I see Peeta leap from the ground, and throw himself in front of me.


	3. Chapter 2

"Peeta!" I cry. The knife gets Peeta in the leg, but if he hadn't jumped up in front of me, I would've gotten me in the heart. Enobaria doesn't look phased though. Her smile grows wider as she stares me directly in the eye, her piercing brown, almost black eyes scaring me, honestly. I pull back on my bow, aimed at her, when with another flick of her wrist, a knife is thrown at me, and this time there's no Peeta to jump up and save me. The knife slices my arm, and does nothing more, but the pain still surges through my arm, blood already gushing freely. The knife falls to the forest floor with a soft thump. For some reason, Enobaria still hasn't noticed Amber, sitting over a few feet away from us. I know Enobaria meant to miss me though. She's a Career, she plays with her food. She stalks closer to me, when in a flash Amber leaps from the ground and pulls the knife from Peeta's leg, causing him to scream out in pain. Why didn't she take the knife Enobaria threw at me? It wouldn't have hurt Peeta!

Amber stands up, and follows Enobaria's technique. With a quick flick of her wrist, the knife hits Enobaria straight in the chest. The reaction is immediate; she falls to the ground, blood already gushing from the wound. It only takes a second until the cannon goes off.

She turns to us, braid even messier than before. "We've gotta get out of here." Is the first thing Amber says to us. The young 16 year olds eyes filled with terror, maybe from memories of her Games, the 73rd. I don't remember much about her victory, but the one thing that I do remember is that she won without killing anyone. The other remaining tribute forgot to clean some pond water before drinking it, a rookie mistake that cost him his life and his victory. I wonder how she must feel now, after just killing Enobaria, but I don't have time to ask now. She turns to Peeta. "Can you walk?"

I help him up carefully, and support one side of his weight, while Amber helps with the other. We hear leaves rustling, and immediately I drop my side of Peeta and draw my bow. The pain shoots up my arm, but I ignore it. When I let go of Peeta, Amber stumbles slightly under his weight, but manages to pull him back upright. But it's only Finnick. He comes walking through the trees holding an armful of water bottles he must have just filled up. I sigh with relief, and drop my bow, the pain subsiding. Finnick looks at us, surprised.

"What happened?" He asks incredulously, glancing at the group of us.

Amber answers for us. "Enobaria came and attacked. Got Peeta and Katniss. I finished her off." She points over to the spot where she killed Enobaria, a few leaves still with small drops of her blood. I shudder. She looks at Finnick."We need to get out of here, Finnick, and get to somewhere where I can treat their wounds."

Finnick nods. The blood keeps gushing from my arm, soaking my jacket. The pain causes my arm to throb. Peeta groans, and I glance down to his wound on his leg. The cloth of his pants is ripped open, revealing a deep looking cut, the skin completely off. Blood nearly pours from his injury, and the entire area around his pants is already soaked. "Guys, we need to go. Neither of us are getting any better."

Finnick nods. "I found a small cave over that way, just a 5 minute walk from here."

Even with our injuries, Peeta and I exchange glances, remembering the last Hunger Games, and our cave. We walk along the shaded forest for a few minutes, Peeta struggling with the help of Amber and I. Finnick leads the way, since he knows where we're going. Finnick holds all of our packs and weapons, along with our newly stocked water supply. Finally, after what seems like the longest walk ever, we reach a giant rock. I glance behind Peeta's head at Amber, who looks just as confused as me. Finnick bends down, and seems to slide through the rock. I crane my neck so I can look down without dropping Peeta. I see a small opening, big enough to fit at least Gale through.

"Here." I say to Peeta, as I put him on the ground gently. He maneuvers himself through the opening and into the cave. I go in next, and Amber comes in last, landing nimbly on her feet. The cave is dimly lit, though bright enough that I can make out everyone. Peeta sits on the ground clutching his leg.

"Katniss, Peeta, sit." Commands Amber. I've never heard her boss anyone around... It's strange. But I do what she says anyway, knowing it's for the better. We both sit, leaning against the wall of the cave. "Finnick? Can you pull out any First Aid things we have?" Finnick nods, and goes rummaging through our packs. Peeta winces at the pain, and I stroke his forehead gently. I reach for his hand, holding it firmly with my good arm. My arm hurts too, but I was just grazed. Peeta was full on stabbed. Finnick brings over our small amount of medical supplies, just a remedial first aid kit, some gauze, and some disinfecting stuff. Amber opens the kit, and pulls out a wipe. She goes to work on Peeta first, and from his tight grip on my hand I can tell it hurts. But she wipes the wound clean. She takes a bit of the disinfecting stuff and dabs it on his now clean cut. Blood begins to come back out of it. Amber frowns, but doesn't look up at us, and continues dabbing at it. That's when I get an idea.

"I'll be right back." I say suddenly. I stand up quickly, and wriggle my way through the cave opening.

"Katniss!" I hear Amber exclaim from the cave. "Get back here!" But I ignore her. With my good arm, I manage to get myself standing. I glance around the forest, looking for these leaves that Prim used to tell me about in District 12, that could clot blood and disinfect wounds better than any Capitol medicine. I realize that I forgot my bow in the cave, and silently curse myself, hoping no one's around. I walk closer to a couple of trees, staring up at the leaves intently. The leaves were pale green, round-ish, low hanging, and flimsy. They had a stem, and when you spun it in your hands, it would fly like a paper airplane. The trunk was significantly narrower than most in District 12, making it easy to spot. I see a tree a few feet away that looks familiar. I squint at it, and make my way over.

The branches hang low, and the trunk is narrow, with smooth bark. I run my hands over it absent-mindedly. It feels like paper. I reach up, and pull off a leaf. I examine carefully. It's a dusty light green color, and looks like a lopsided circe. I put the stem between both of my hands, and am about to spin it to see if it flys, when I notice a light drip of blood coming through my jacket sleeve. I've gotta hurry... I quickly spin the stem, and let it go. It soars perfectly, until it falls just a yard or two away from me. I smile. I've found it. I grab two handfuls of the leaves, careful not to crush them, and make my way back over to the cave. Amber stands in front of the opening, holding my bow and arrows in one hand, the other on her hip. She frowns unhappily at me.

"Katniss! Are you okay? Goodness, you can't just leave the cave alone, with no weapon... when you're injured no less. " She shakes her head, and I feel my face heat up. I mean, I'm being lectured like I'm two. From a 16 year old. "Gah, lets just get back in the cave. What are the leaves for anyways?"

"They help clot blood, and disinfect. My little sister, Prim, who's a healer, told me about them." I say softly. She nods thoughtfully, taking one from my hand and examining it.

"Prim's the sister you volunteered for, right?" She hands me the leaf back. I nod quickly, keeping my head down, not meeting her gaze. Prim. Prim. Prim. Prim... "Well, she sounds like one heck of a girl. Maybe I'll meet her someday."

I want to slap Amber for being so ignorant. We're in the Quarter Quell for goodness sakes. Only one of us is going to get out, and if I have anything to do with it, it's going to be Peeta. But I resist the urge to do so, knowing Amber's just trying to be nice, make conversation. We stand in silence for a moment, until I reply."Yeah, she really is." I agree. Amber slides through the opening of the cave, and I follow her.

Inside the cave, Finnick is examining Peeta's wound, and assuring him that everything's going to be okay. Peeta looks like he wants to punch him. I sit back down next to Peeta, whose wound has began to bleed more. Amber kneels down, and dabs the cut clean a second time. Once it's clean, she takes one of the leaves and places it on the wound, pressing down slightly. She looks up at me, as if asking, "Am I doing this right?" I nod curtly. She removes the leaf after a few seconds.

"Katniss?" She says softly. "Do you think it would help to get some of the 'juice', I guess you'd call it, from the leaf?"

"Sure." I say slowly, dragging out the word. "I mean, it can't hurt, right?"

Amber grabs another leaf, wringing it out over Peeta's wound. He winces, and his grip on my hand becomes harder, but he doesn't say anything. I squeeze back reassuringly. Once the cut dries enough, she wraps it in gauze carefully. "I'm done Peeta." She says simply, moving over next to me. "Katniss, would you take off your jacket for me?"

I reluctantly do what she says, glancing down at my arm. It's covered in my dark red blood, running down my arm. The cut actually looks a lot deeper than I thought, and you can see into my body. I quickly look away, trying not to meet the other's stunned looks. Finnick drops a stick he's been using for the past half hour to try to make a fire, and it falls to the rocky cave floor with a thump. Peeta's eyebrows pull together, and for a moment his eyes don't leave my arm. Finally he looks up, meeting my gaze. "Oh my gosh, Katniss. It's worse than _mine_." He says, referring to his own injury. I glance down at the cave floor, saving Amber's reaction for last.

I get the courage to look up after a moment, and meet Amber's dusty blue eyes, which are wide in concern. She doesn't say anything though, and grabs a clean wipe, going to work on my arm quickly. Now it's my turn to wince. I squeeze Peeta's hand as she cleans my cut, the disinfecting stuff stings like crazy. Peeta pushes my bangs out of my face gently, and kisses my forehead. I lay my head on his shoulder. "You'll be okay Katniss." Peeta whispers into my hair.

"I know." I say back softly. "I'm the girl on fire."


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello lovely person who is actually reading this! Yes, I am back. Sorry for my brief (well, long) hiatus. With school ending I had a whole mess of papers and finals to worry about. But, it is summer now! So please do enjoy this new chapter. I am currently working on another Hunger Games fanfiction, (hopefully out soon) along with a Austin and Ally sick-fic. ANYWAY... read, enjoy, and review! :) **

Peeta laughs slightly, earning him an odd glance from Finnick, who has finally manages to start a fire, warming the chilly cave. Amber doesn't say anything, and is completely focused on me, on my arm. She's finished wiping it down I guess, and my whole arm feels wet and tingly. She takes another leaf from the pile, putting it on my arm and applying pressure to it, careful not to hurt me. After a moment, she takes it off, and grabs another one.

"Can you hold your arm out straight?" She asks me. I nod, and do what she says. She wrings out the leaf on my arm, and the pain is excruciating. I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming. I squeeze Peeta's hand so hard, that he gasps. And then, in an instant, the pain is gone. I relax my tense muscles, breathing hard. "Sorry." Amber says softly. She reaches for the gauze, and wraps my arm, it feels tight, but I know it's to stop the bleeding.

"Thank you," I tell Amber sincerely. She practically just saved my life. She shrugs.

"No problem. I'm gonna go get some more leaves." She's about to exit the cave, when she turns around. "Peeta, can I see your knife? Just incase." He nods, and tosses it to her stupidly. I smack his arm, but Amber catches the handle easily. She races out the cave opening, and it seems like with in a matter of seconds, she's back with a handful of leaves. She drops them by our pile of supplies.

We decide to eat dinner, or lunch, or whatever, and get to bed early after today's events. Finnick splits up part of our bread, and gives us each a slice. I chew mine slowly and carefully, not knowing for sure if we'll have any tomorrow. Finnick passes around a bottle of water, and we each take a small sip from it, the water soothing my dry throat. We're getting settled to go to bed, and Finnick's decided that I'll take first watch, but that's alright. I need time to think.

Everyone is seemingly fast asleep after a few minutes, so I just sit there, leaning against the cold, damp cave wall, thinking about today. How I almost lost Peeta, how I was stupid and foolish to leave the cave alone, how Amber saved _us_. I shake my head, I've been lucky so far, too lucky. I sigh; blinking hard at my sagging eyelids. I. Will. Not. Sleep. I'm shaken from my self-motivating pep talk, when I hear soft crying sounds. It seems to be coming from Amber.

I get up, and go over to where she's sleeping. "Amber?" I ask gently. She glances up, her blue-gray-green eyes rimmed red, tears flowing down her cheeks. "What's wrong?"

She sits up, and pulls her legs to her chest wrapping her thin, yet muscular arms around her knees. "Katniss... I-I killed someone today..." Her voice is barely a whisper, and more tears flood down her face, and I do the only thing I can think of, I rub her back, like I used to do for Prim when she had nightmares.

"So? I've killed, what? Like, lets see... 1, 2, 3, 4... 5! Five, Amber. I've killed five people." She stares at me with her piercing eyes, looking so sad, so broken. "And you only killed her because she was going to _kill us_."

"I know it's just-"

"Amber," I say gently. "Please. You are one of the nicest people I've ever met. You saved Peeta's life and mine today Amber, I think that cancels out killing one person."

"Okay." Amber finally reluctantly agrees. "Can we just stop talking about it then? Maybe talk about something else... I can't sleep anyway..."

"Sure." I say, unsure of what to talk about. "So, how are you such a fast runner anyways?"

She blushes and glances down at her lap. "I, uh, did a lot of running in my district."

"Why?" I blurt out, unthinkingly.

Amber looks at me like I'm crazy. "Well, we worked in the fields a lot, my legs got strong," I nod, considering this. "And I would do it on my own too, just to clear my head. I really love it."

I smile at the pure happy innocence in her voice. "That's neat."

"How 'bout you? How are you so good with a bow?"

I could say that I used to hunt, but that's technically illegal in our district, and would get me and everyone I love into more trouble than we are in now. "A friend taught me." I say vaguely, but our eyes meet, and she registers that there's something I'm hiding. She quickly babbles on to cover our brief moment.

"Oh, that's so cool Katniss," She squeals, "I couldn't use a bow for my life... Actually, scratch that, I couldn't use a weapon for my life!" She giggles, and it's so high-pitched and cheerful that I can't help but join in.

"Oh, common. I saw you with those knives!" A quick flash of sadness goes through her eyes before she's shaking her head, a lopsided smile on her face. Her braid is thoroughly messy, strands sticking out everywhere, the braid barely a braid anymore, just loose strands. I have to admit, it's bothering me.

We're silent for a moment, until I ask, "Hey, Amber? Uh, can I fix your hair?" She glances up at me, surprised. I'm sure that's not what she expected me to say.

"Sure." She slides closer to me, sitting in front of my legs. I know Amber's 16, but there's just something about her that makes me what to, I don't know, _baby_ her, or something. I think it's how innocent she is. I pull out the ponytail holder, and run my fingers through her tangled blonde hair, attempting to make it slightly more tame. She doesn't even flinch as I comb through knots and tangles, just sits there motionlessly. Once it's as good as it's gonna get, I begin to French braid it, just like my mother taught me. Though I'm tough, and not very girly, I do know how to do some things with hair. I get to the bottom of her hair, and tie it with her hair band again.

"There," I say, dropping the braid down her back. "I'm done."

"Thank you, Katniss." Amber says sleepily. She yawns.

I give her a nudge. "Go to bed. I'm supposed to be on watch anyway." To my surprise, she doesn't argue, and lays her head down on the hard cave floor, and is out quickly.

**A/N: It's short, I know. Sorry! You know the drill... review! Please? Pretty, pretty please with a cherry, and sprinkles, and hot fudge on top? :) YAY thanks.**


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